For what it's worth I've been using Rohloff oil in my Alfine 11 for the last three and a half years. Yearly oil changes and about 600 miles per year. So far so good. The Alfine is (currently) in a Tern Vektron with Bosch motor so doesn't have the gentlest of lives. In total it's now done over 4000 miles.
I got fed up buying the Shimano stuff when I had litre containers of the Rohloff oils for the Speedhubs in other bikes/trikes in the stable.
Alfine 11 oil flush
Re: Alfine 11 oil flush
The oil for Alfine 11 is different from the oil for Alfine 8, Nexus 8 and lower speeds.
Any ideas why?
Any ideas why?
Re: Alfine 11 oil flush
Alfine 8 and Nexus hubs use grease at manufacture, not oil. Then the service regime is to dip the greased hub into an oil bath, which (supposedly) revives the old grease. There’s a post on here somewhere by Brucey which describes in detail why this probably doesn’t work well.
Re: Alfine 11 oil flush
Grease doesn't simply dry out, it collects micro partials of metal from the gears. Simply dipping it in oil will just produce a weak grinding paste that will get less weak with every dip.
But it's better than not doing anything, the main purpose of a clean is to get rid of water build up which eventually will cause corrosion.
But it's better than not doing anything, the main purpose of a clean is to get rid of water build up which eventually will cause corrosion.
Cheers
J Bro
J Bro
Re: Alfine 11 oil flush
This morning I did my second oil change. The initial change was at 500km and today it was 1000km. The old oil was slowly removed using minimal syringe suction before being slowly replaced (gravity fed) with my "homebaked" flushing oil. The hub was then spun through all the gears for 5 minutes. The flushing all was then removed and slowly replaced (gravity fed) with new 75W90 fully synthetic gear oil. The change took approx 60 minutes
Unlike the oil from the first change, the extracted oil didn't appear to have any suspended metal. My neodiyum magnet wouldn't stick to the outside of the plastic bag containing the old oil and flushing oil.
After the oil change at 500km the bike seemed to be much easier to pedal. It's an e-bike, yet much of the time I can easily pedal with the power setting on zero. Gear changes are also smooth. There is also no sign of oil leaking from the hub.
Unlike the oil from the first change, the extracted oil didn't appear to have any suspended metal. My neodiyum magnet wouldn't stick to the outside of the plastic bag containing the old oil and flushing oil.
After the oil change at 500km the bike seemed to be much easier to pedal. It's an e-bike, yet much of the time I can easily pedal with the power setting on zero. Gear changes are also smooth. There is also no sign of oil leaking from the hub.